"Go ye therefore and teach all nations . . ." Matthew 28:19

"Go ye therefore and teach all nations . . ." Matthew 28:19

Monday, March 28, 2016

Week 31 - Easter

Well this week was chaotic to say the least. Since Elder Shaw was leaving after serving here for 9 months every one wanted us over for a last visit. On Monday we had dinner with the Puglisis and the Worners. The Puglisis made real Italian lasagna. It was so good! I'm not sure how they made it, but I know it involved eggs, ham, noodles, sauce and other ingredients that made it amazing!!! It was one of the best meals I've had since being out here! On 

Tuesday we visited Sœur Lafourtune, Chantale and Yvan and had one last English class. It was a lot of fun. It was cool to see the impact Elder Shaw had on the people we visited. It reassured me that we are making difference in people's lives and in the importance of the relationships we are establishing with these amazing children of God. 

On Wednesday we drove to Québec City and Elder Shaw got on his bus and left for Montréal. A few hours later my new companion Elder Perkes rolled in on another bus. Elder Perkes is from Logan, Utah, loves improv., doodling, and quoting movies/tv shows/comedians back and forth with me (similar to what my brother and I would do with the comedian John Pinette). 

While in Québec we went on splits with the Elders of St. Foy. Elder Noorda and I visited a member and shared with him the Easter video and gave him some pass along cards (if you haven't already I encourage you to watch it and share it). 

We also visited a member and had a discussion about General Conference. His name is Max and Max is amazing. He always has gospel questions that take us off on some tangents but we were able to help him answer his questions and we had a strong Spiritual lesson that ended with him committing to come to the institute to watch the Priesthood Session of General Conference. 

On Thursday we went to District Meeting!!! That doesn't seem like a big deal but when you spend 6 months hearing half of the meeting through the telephone it's a huge deal to be there in person! We talked about the Easter Initiative and how to best use the video and the cards. 

After District Meeting we went with the Ste. Foy Elders and got ice cream at Chocolat Favori. Now what they do is take a cone with vanilla ice cream and they dip it in hardening chocolate of your choice. Holy Cow it's incredible!!!!! Elder Perkes and I drove back to good 'ole Rimouski after that and I introduced him to Yvan, Ruud, Sœur Lafourtune, Michael (over the phone), André and Kathleen, and everyone else he met at church. 

I love this time of year and the power and Spirit that comes with the time of the Glorious Atonement of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection. The Spirit has been so strong as we've shared the video and talked of Christ with our members and our investigators. Why wouldn't it be? It's centralized on the single most important event in history. Through Jesus Christ and His Atonement we can find new life. We can be cleansed from our imperfections and start again. The Church has a 12 step program for addiction recovery and with each step there is a video and a story of someone's journey to recovery. One story that has really struck me powerfully is Step 6: Change of Heart: Become entirely ready to have God remove all your character weaknesses. With this step and video this man has gone through the steps but doesn't feel better. He was still pained by everything he went through. At one point he recounts reading back through all the steps to see what he missed and on step 6 he could't remember truly praying and asking Heavenly Father to remove his character defects so he decided to do it.

"I didn't know what I was expecting to happen so I just thought to myself, if He was here, in front of me right now what would I want Him to say? And I thought well I just want Him to take it and say thanks I got this. But instead at that moment I heard a question and it was, will you let me take this? I realized I had done all this work to be relieved of this misery and that question, will you let me take this completely changed the trajectory of my recovery in my life. I had a good friend tell me recently of an African proverb that says, If there is no demon within, the demon outside can do you no harm."

We are all on a road to recovery from a state of imperfection and pain to incomprehensible happiness and perfection and that road is entirely dependent on our acceptance and faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. We have to be willing to let Him take our pains, sorrows, trials, and sins from us. When we allow Christ to enter our lives and to take our burdens we feel a giant weight be taken off our backs and we find the light in the dark times. I testify that is true. I have experienced it in my own life and my life has been changed because of it. I testify that Jesus is the Christ and He is our Savior and Redeemer and He will heal us if we let him. Three of the most meaningful words, in my opinion, that someone can say to us is, "I love you". How much more powerful are those words when we feel Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ saying them to us. Answers to our prayers are all around us, we just have to know where to look. 

I love you all and hope you have great weeks and as always stay safe and stay faithful! 

Happy Easter!!!!!

Love,

Elder DiReda


Service with Elder Perkes


Chocolat Favori with the St. Foy Elders


No explanation necessary

Elder Shaw and I with Soeur Lafourtune




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